(White) Florida Man Murdered, 12-Year-Old (Black) Arrested
By Larry Elder, Aug. 5, 2014
Some years ago my mother and I discussed the shooting death, by Los Angeles
Police Department cops, of a man shot after he led the cops on one of those vintage
California freeway chases.
At the end of the chase, the man got out of his car and seemed to wave his hand in a menacing fashion. The
police shot him over 40 times, something that often gets the cops labeled "trigger-happy."
Turns out he was unarmed.
But there was very little controversy. Why?
The deceased, the guy who led the cops on the chase, was white. Without
the racist-cops-shot-unarmed-black/Hispanic-civilian angle, the media, as usual,
showed zero interest. Or, as my mother put it, as far as the media were concerned,
the white motorist was "just another dead fly."
This brings us to the shooting death of a 58-year-oldhomeless man in Florida. The police arrested two black suspects, one age 12, the other 16. The
murder victim was white.
In nearly a full hour of cable news coverage yesterday morning,
neither CNN, MSNBC, nor Fox even mentioned the story. Of course, it's possible one
or more outlets covered the story, but it doesn’t appear so. A 12-year-old was arrested
for murder? And the 12-year-old had a 16-year-old accomplice, arrested on unrelated
charges. In a local news story, the homeless man's sister asked: "Twelve
years old, how does he even get a gun? Where was his parents [sic] watching him?" Not national news?
Where is President Barack Obama, who famously said, "If I had a son,
he’d look like Trayvon [Martin]"? Where is the Rev. Jesse Jackson who, after
the "unfavorable" verdict in the Trayvon Martin case, said, "Blacks
are under attack"? The murder even took place in notorious Florida, site of
the Trayvon Martin case and a state with the controversial “stand your ground” law.
Maybe therein lies the media silence: The homeless white man isn't around
to defend his use of the controversial Stand Your Ground law. He didn’t use
Stand Your Ground. He’s dead.
Follow Larry Elder on Twitter
"Like" Larry Elder on Facebook
